Card register and the like



y 8, 1952 R. HOFGAARD 5 CARD REGISTER AND THE LIKE Filed Dec. 4, 1946 Patented July 8, 1952 I liofgaaifli Nordstittndshcgda;near

: Application'l The present nventionrelates to a cardregister and ,tbja. particular form ,oiembodiment of. cards for a register bf the "present type." The card reg ;i'ster. rraccordancewith the invention relates to thetype of'card registers'fin which the cards are stored in a suspended position,and the invention in the following description-is described'in'connection withea register-of -this typealthough the invention, as itwill be apparent from the foregoing,.can alsoIbe utilised other types of card registers. r {The main obiect'of the invention to pro- ,vide a card register with'ahumbehof camgsusf pended on rails or constructed that any particular card, Ttive', of its place from the suspending: meansv and be separate irom the remaining cards.

ause t Thisis'obtained in accordance with tl einvention by providing the cards, which niaybe'manufaetured f r'o r'n any convenient type. of sheet material, "suehias sheet metal, cardboard covered with "etal foil, plastics, paper 'or the like, with a number of 'L-shaped orlinversely Lj shape'din- Qci'sion's' along'their upp'erl' edge, these. incisions beingja'dapted to engage rails having a .Teshaped cross-section, the cross-beam of-which'is somejwhat shorter than the width of'the. stem bf the jL.- 's'haped incisions along the upper edgeo'fv the cardsgu These rails reasaptea' to 'b'eindividually'dis-" placed a direetipnperpendicular to their rein combination with the like, the'register being so r e g in the registen znay be released leathers; With-"16 111cis'i6nshiia'i6] leased from the rails owing eriimm14,w 1 Q one has the possibility of 2 or 65,536 Tcom'bina' tions, acorresponding number of cards,

the card register.

Besides. the suspension and releasing arrangeiment for the cards mentioned above, theinvention also comprises arrangements; by rneansjof which an individual card which has fbee'n'freto a particular asjus'tm'ent-of the same, is caused to slide ,downt'vard between the other cards irrespective.of the friction between .thecards;

These arrangements operate in such a mariner thatfwhen a card is tobe releas'e'dile. whenthe rails, have been brought'in the positionficorresp'ondingtc the releaseof a particular card. the meansin question expose the rails to vibrations "which are transferred from' the rails to the cards,

causing the card which is not in engagement with any rail, toslide downward by gravity. f'

The said vibration device for the suspension rails may be of any suitable kind, suchfas electrical, pneumatic, or purely mechanical means,

but in the present embodiment the invention will be described in connection with an electr cmagnetic vibration device.

' The preferred embodiment of: the finvention will now be-desoribedwith reference to the adcomp'anying drawing, in which specti've .longitudinalaxe'sinSuQh a a e that they take up the desired one of twp difierent end positionsiwithi regard to they cards, in which positions the T- 'haped rails either register with the broad stems 'of "the L-shaped incisions inthe cards, or engage the horizontalpart of the L- shaped incisions. k j I For each individualcard the incisions along the upper edge are arranged ina particular sequence, so that for eachindividual card one'parti'cular position of the suspending rails, will bring this; individual card out of engagement with all the rails. The'individualadjust'ment of thsu'spending rails may be carried out electrically or magnetically in accordance with a code system, comprising 'for; each individual card a series of impulses causing" a'fimovement of a number'of rails from one'position to another. 1

As example, if each card be provided along its upper edge with L-shaped or inversely L- shaped incisions this gives 2 Le. 256' different combinations, in. other words the cardregister in that case1 maycomprise 256 individually reard card which has not as rails and the vibration device.

Figure 1 is a diagramrn'atical view onja enlarged' scale of apart of the upper "edgeofapard inconnectionwithasuspension rail. I v

Figure 2 illustrates on a reduced scalepaistand- 'yet been [provided 'L-shaped incisions,

with an individual series of ease in the form of an incisions being in that inverted Tfs, and v Figure 3 is a diagrammaticalfsectionalfview through the upper part'of the card register, com.- prising the upper part of a'card, on 2 suspension The principlefor the suspension and release of I the. cards is first'described with reference t'e Figure 1 of the drawings.

l is a register card which is provided along its upper edge with L-shaped incisions, which are indicated with the numerals 2, 3 and 4. The

number of incisions in the upper edge of each card, aswill be understood from what has been said hereinbefore, is determined by th number of cards in the card register. r i As will be seen in the drawing the incision 12 is in the form of an L--whereas incisions 3 and 4 are in'the'fcrm of inverted Ls. i Each incision is adapted to be engaged bya cisions, certain of said incisions being L-shaped or inversely L-shaped according to a selected code, said register comprising a frame, a plurality of rails of inverted T-shape in transverse crosssection, the width of the cross-bar portion of each T-shaped rail being less than the width of the stem of an incision of a card, and shafts supporting each of said rails on said frame for individual angular movement between end positions in which the cross-bar portion of the rail is in vertical alinement with the stem of the associated incision of any given card or alternatively one side of the cross-bar extends into the horizontal leg of the incision of that card, the axes of said shafts being located vertically above the center lines of the incisions through which the respective rails extend; whereby a card of selected coding may be released from said rails by angular movement of the respective rails to position the cross-bar portions thereof in vertical alinement with the stems of the associated incisions.

2. A register for coded cards as recited in claim 1, wherein the card-supporting surfaces of each rail are cylindrical with a center of curvature coinciding with the pivotal axis of angular movement of the rail.

3. A register for coded cards as recited in claim 1, in combination with a rigid supporting structure, means resiliently mountingsaid frame on said supporting structure, and means for vibrating said frame to facilitate the separation by gravity of a code-released card from the assembly of cards suspended on said rails.

4. A register for coded cards as recited in claim 1, wherein the forward ends of said rails are free and unobstructed, whereby coded cards may be pushed upon said rails for support thereby.

5. A register for coded cards as recited in claim 1, in combination with supplemental supporting rails pivotally mounted on said frame and extending along the lower edges of a series of cards suspended on said rails of inverted T-shape; said supplemental supporting rails being movable between an operative position underlying the series of cards to an inoperative position permitting dropping of a code-selected card released from 7 said rails of inverted T-shape.

ROLF HOFGAARD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,585,867 Kruse May 25, 1926 1,702,994 Buckeridge Feb. 19, 1929 2,217,744 Gruenhut Oct. 15, 1940 2,389,343 Connor Nov. 20, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 669,728 Germany Jan. 2, 1939 

